Friday, December 1, 2017

The Live Tape Project #1 - Little Caesar at the Orange County Speedway in Middletown, NY on June 17, 1990

Little Caesar were opening Kiss on the "Hot In The Shade" Tour with Slaughter playing between the two bands.

Setlist:

Down-N-Dirty

Hard Times

Drive It Home

Chain of Fools

God's Creation

Rock-N-Roll State of Mind

Wrong Side of the Tracks

Sound Quality: It's a bit muffled for the first 45 seconds and then it improves drastically as I was probably pulling the recorder out of my pocket and I think it sounds really good for what it is through the rest of the set. I believe I recorded this with a mono Realistic recorder with built in microphone.

Length: 30 minutes

What is the Live Tape Project?

Well back in the day for a few years I audio taped a lot of the shows I went to. I have all my master tapes (probably about 80 to 100 shows) and have always wanted to transfer and upload them. (added note - they are all the different bands I saw at the time, not just the band in this post)

Well I'm doing it. I recently purchased a TEAC LP-R550USB stereo with includes among other things a cassette player and CD Recorder. I'm recording the cassettes direct to CD, then importing them as .wav files and then uploading to YouTube. I'll then post the link to the shows here and in the Facebook group.

Quality wise, most were recorded on a mono Realistic recorder with built in microphone which in some cases (and based on the recording conditions) captured a great recording you'll listen to over and over and in other cases it might be barely listenable and something you'll only listen to if you were there and need to remember if they played a particular song that night. Later on I upgraded to a stereo recorder and some of those sound great. It's a mixed bag and you never know what the next installment will bring.

My plan is to upload one or two a week and get them all uploaded by the end of 2018. Should be a fun ride and I hope you enjoy some of the shows that get posted.

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Monday, November 27, 2017

Cheetah Chrome's Dead Boys (featuring Johnny Blitz) celebrated the 40th Anniversary of "Young, Loud and Snotty" by performing it in its entirety on September 17, 2017 at Bowery Electric in NYC.

The show was sold out and packed. Vocalist Jake Hout ventured out into, unto and above the crowd throughout the show. Jason Kottwitz and Ricky Rat round out the band who just killed it (bad pun not intended) through the whole set.

If you missed out back in September, not to worry as they are coming back to the Bowery Electric at the end of January 2018. The first of those shows is already sold out and evidently the second show is close, so check out the video below of the set opening video I filmed of "Sonic Reducer" and it should be all the convincing you need to go pick up one of those remaining tickets.

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Click any photos to enlarge them to full screen. Also follow on twitter @MostPeopleBlank Then, of course, as always - Rock on and Enjoy - PaulHere's some related articles you might want to check out:

Sunday, November 26, 2017

I went through my files seeing what shows I have photos or videos of that I haven't posted yet and found a lot which I'm going to start uploading on a regular basis starting with this one.Teenage Jesus and the Jerks did two "one night only" shows at the Knitting Factory in NYC on June 13, 2008 - an early show and a late show billed for 11:00pm.The shows were to commemorate the book release of "NO WAVE: Post Punk, Underground, New York, 1976-1980" which was co-edited by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.The version of Teenage Jesus that performed on this night was made up of Moore, Lydia Lunch and Jim Sclavunos.Both shows sold out immediately and I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the late show. The main space was packed when I walked in so I grabbed a spot against the back wall. When the band hit the stage a few minutes after midnight, I filmed the whole set on my phone.This being 2008, obviously it's not HD (or hell maybe some phones shot in HD in 2008, but mine did not.) The video resolution is 240x320 and I zoomed in as much as possible. When I fully settle and zoom in at about the 3 minute mark (prior to that the screen is sometime black or not zoomed), it's basically a full stage shot featuring a pretty pixelated view of the band. The sound is actually pretty good.

I see there's other partial videos of the two shows from this night, so while this isn't great, it is complete and entertaining.Lydia baits the crowd throughout and seems to have an actual issue with whoever was in the audience right in front of her through much of the set.The setlist for the show (with approximate start times in the video):Red AlertLess of Me (1:17)The Closet (2:52. Video settles in about 3:00)Crown of Thorns (5:30)Crown of Thorns (6:30 "We're doing it again because we hate you that much" - Lydia)Burning Rubber (7:40)Eliminate By Night (9:32. Thurston breaks a string about 30 seconds in. Song restarts from beginning about 11:20)Freud In Flop (12:06)I Woke Up Dreaming (13:20)Race Mixing (16:43)Baby Doll (18:10)Orphans (20:40)

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Friday, September 22, 2017

I definitely was looking forward to seeing Paul McCartney at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on September 19, 2017. I'm not a Beatles freak, but I own about half of their catalog and know most of the rest of it from listening to classic rock radio growing up. I figured I would also know a few big Wings hits, but evidently forgot just how many big hits they had. I'd never seen McCartney before and I knew it would be a good time.But it was much more than that.

We came up out of the subway to a huge mass of a crowd slowly working their way through the security gates in front of the Barclays Center. We eventually made it inside the building and then finally through the metal detectors just before the 8 pm start time listed on our tickets. Not to worry as the show wouldn't start for about another 40 minutes, so we had plenty of time for those of us that wanted to get some merch and then work our way up to the next to last row in the arena, but right next to the stage.

With his catalog, it would be hard not to open with a hit and things started off with "Hard Day's Night" to begin the 3 hour set. Next up was Wings "Junior's Farm," which by the title I didn't think I knew, but recognized when they got to the chorus.and the hits kept coming with "Can't Buy Me Love", then "Jet" and back to the Beatles for "All My Loving."Another visit to the Wings catalog with "Let Me Roll With It" (another "Oh...that's what that song I've heard a million times on the radio is called" moment for me) which led into an instrumental jam of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady". This was a bit of a tribute as Jimi had died 47 years ago the day prior. McCartney told a funny story involving Jimi, Sgt. Pepper and Eric Clapton before then playing a great version of the Beatles "I've Got a Feeling."Here's video I shot of Foxy Lady into I've Got a Feeling:

One of Paul's few solo songs of the night followed with "My Valentine" from his 2012 album "Kisses on the Bottom" before Wings' "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five" into "Maybe I'm Amazed" from his first solo album.At this point Paul acknowledged the signs the crowd brought to his show with messages and requests for him. There was a 40th anniversary, someone else was just released from the hospital and came right to the show while another had escaped the hurricane damage of the South to make to Brooklyn for Sir Paul. I'm not sure if this was a request from a sign or what is always played in this slot (although I do see Paul changes up a few songs each night), but we got a great version of "We Can Work It Out" and here's the video:

Next Paul went back to his pre-Beatles band The Quarrymen for "In Spite Of All The Danger" and then another Beatles classic with "You Won't See Me" (video below):

More Beatlemania with "Love Me Do", "And I Love Her" and then "Blackbird."Paul then came out front, on a raised stage, alone with acoustic guitar for a poignant "Here Today" from 1983's "Tug of War." (video below):

Two more solo songs were next with "Queenie Eye" which is off of his 2013 album "New", the title track of which he played next, then back to the Beatles for "Lady Madonna."

"FourFiveSeconds", his collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna was next and quite catchy and then "Eleanor Rigby" before telling a little story about how the Rolling Stones were looking for a song to record when they just got signed and Paul and John gave them "I Wanna Be Your Man" (video below):

Next up was a song Paul said was from an album from 50 years ago, joking "before my time" before playing "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!", the first song to be played off Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band this night. "Something" followed and then Paul revisited Sgt. Pepper saying this was one they didn't always play but liked to when in the New York City area and "A Day in The Life" was performed and morphed into "Give Peace A Chance" as a loving tribute to John Lennon. (video below):

We now were entering the home stretch of the main set of the show with "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" into Wings "Band on the Run" back to the Beatles for "Back in the USSR" and "Let It Be."Overall the stage show, for an arena, is relatively stripped down. It has great lights and video, but where's the fire and explosions one often sees? Well Paul saved it all for "Live and Let Die" at which point he went over the top and rocked out while filling the air with massive fireballs and explosions. This led into a set ending "Hey Jude" with massive singalong. (Video below):

The band left the stage for a short encore break before returning with "Yesterday" and one more visit to that album of fifty years ago with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" into an electrifying "Helter Skelter"At this point Paul asked if there was anyone in the crowd celebrating a birthday and he noticed one specific fan up front - Jimmy Fallon!As you'll see in the video I shot, Jimmy was there celebrating with Saturday Night Live mastermind Lorne Michaels as well as celebrity chef Mario Batali (who also happened to be celebrating a birthday). Paul plays "Birthday" and then leads the crowd in a singalong of "Happy Birthday" to Jimmy who couldn't look happier. (video below):

After that Paul told the crowd, "there does come a time when we gotta go home...yeah...and well it coincides with the time you have to go home." He then thanked the crew and his band and played "Golden Slumbers" / "Carry That Weight" / "The End." I looked at the time and it was a few minutes after 11:30. Paul had played just under three hours and the time flew by. We raced (well shuffled with the thousands of other attendees) out of the arena onto a packed local subway that made about 15 stops before getting to Grand Central station with just a few minutes to spare to catch the 12:43am train home. When I finally laid my head down on my pillow at 3:30am knowing I would have to get up soon for work, there was no question this show was absolutely worth it.If you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Last night, September 19, 2017, Paul McCartney played an amazing sold out show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.During the encore, before playing the Beatles' "Birthday" he asked if anyone in the house was celebrating a birthday and noticed one specific fan up front - Jimmy Fallon!As you'll see in the video I shot, Jimmy is there celebrating with Saturday Night Live mastermind Lorne Michaels as well as celebrity chef Mario Batali (who also happened to be celebrating a birthday). Paul plays "Birthday" and then leads the crowd in a singalong of "Happy Birthday" to Jimmy who couldn't look happier.

A very cool moment indeed. I'll post a full review of the show as well as more videos laterIf you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!

Monday, June 26, 2017

Just a quick post to show off a few photos and video of Brian Setzer last night (June 25, 2017) at Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT.I'd actually never seen Brian (or the Stray Cats) before and always wanted to, so when my buddy Kev and his wife said they wanted to go, I tagged along. We bought lawn seats, but many of the seats in the side sections were unfilled, so when the show started, we could walk up the side aisle and get pretty close to the front. Here's some shots from that view mixed in with the set list for the night. There's also a link to the video I shot of "Rock This Town" below as well.Setlist:Put Your Cat Clothes On (Carl Perkins cover)Rumble In Brighton (Stray Cats)Vinyl RecordsStray Cat Strut (Stray Cats)Nothing is a Sure ThingStiletto CoolCry Baby (Stray Cats)'49 Mercury Blues (Brian Setzer Orchestra)What's Her Name?Drive Like Lightning (Crash Like Thunder) (Brian Setzer Orchestra)Slow Down / Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)Gene and Eddie (Stray Cats)Blue Moon of Kentucky (Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys)Runaway Boys (Stray Cats)8-Track (Brian Setzer Orchestra)Fishnet Stockings (Stray Cats)Let's ShakeEncore:Sleep Walk (Santo & Johnny cover - Brian solo)Rock This Town (Stray Cats) Video Below:

It was a great time! Look forward to catching him the next time he comes around!f you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!

Friday, May 19, 2017

This past Sunday, Mother's Day, I saw Metallica play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford NJ on quite possibly the largest stage I've ever seen any band play on and most definitely with the biggest set of video screens at any concert I've been to. This was a good thing since my seats for that show where almost as far away from the stage as possible. I'm pretty sure I saw folks around me guided up to those far away heights by Sherpas while taking hits off oxygen tanks because the air up there was so thin. This did not diminish the great time we had because it was an awesome spectacle with plenty of classics mixed with (just slightly too much) new stuff (an adjustment they would make at the show I'm actually going to review in full here...although I'll talk a bit about that Mother's Day show too). (All photos and videos are from the NY show)So three days later, just as my ears stopped ringing, it was time for round two and a show I knew was going to be very different.Last night, Wednesday May 17, 2017, Metallica performed at NYCB LIVE, Home of The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - I believe the only ARENA show of the tour. Instead of the 50,000 plus they are typically playing to on this US Summer STADIUM tour, this was more like 15,000. Instead of the largest stage with the tallest video screens I've ever seen, I knew they were playing in the round at the center of the arena at this show, so what would they do about all the video which was such a big part of the stadium show from the weekend? It would surely be different, but would it be as good without all the spectacle?The answer for those lucky enough to get tickets (and with pockets deep enough - the cheapest seats for this show were about $160 with all charges...ours were $193...and those are Ticketmaster, not scalper prices) was a resounding yes.We walked in as VOLBEAT were about halfway through their set (Avenged Sevenfold was not billed for this show) and we were pleased to see how close we were. The stage was square but placed like a diamond in the middle of the arena with Lars' drum kit covered in the middle while VOLBEAT played it. Otherwise the stage was bare with the amplifiers hanging from the ceiling. No video screens were visible as expected.VOLBEAT ended their solid set and there was a short break during which the cover was removed from Lars' drum kit. Then before we knew it, the lights dimmed and Metallica's standard opening music, "The Ecstasy of Gold," started playing. There was such an excitement in the room as everyone stood and cheered and looked down at the stage which suddenly came to life...with video. Basically the stage was the video screen and the static intro to Hardwired started playing. Then the crowd roared again as we saw James, Lars, Kirk and Robert running from out of nowhere along one of the barriers up onto the stage and they kicked into the standard opening salvo of this tour - "Hardwired" followed immediately by "Atlas, Rise!"After the stadium experience it was amazing how this setup, open on all sides made it feel like you were at a club show! The band seemed to feel the same way and I think enjoyed being surrounded by their "family" as James consistently addressed the crowd throughout the night.Next up was the first classic with an amazing version of "For Whom The Bell Tolls" which had everyone singing along at the top of their lungs. Then the fun of going to any Metallica show began...how would they change up the set?Metallica know many of their fans will go to multiple shows on the tour and always create a standard setlist with numerous spots where they will switch up the songs. While every show on this tour so far has opened with the three tunes I just mentioned, the fourth slot is one of those mystery slots and we got treated to another classic from their second album "Ride The Lightning", in this case - the title track! (FYI - at the Sunday show we got "Fuel" in this slot)Here's video I shot of it:

They went back to the standard setlist for the next three songs, first up giving us all a bit of a breather after that opening with "The Unforgiven"Next up would be the first of another double shot of new tunes starting with "Now That We're Dead"...and the drum jam.About half way through the song Lars starts doing a bit of a drum solo and then suddenly appearing on stage are giant drums for each member of the band and they proceed to spend a few minutes doing a sort of drum circle with Lars as conductor.When they busted into this at MetLife on Sunday I thought it was just cheesy and when they did it again up close, well my opinion didn't change. I find it silly and it doesn't add anything to the song but I will say all my friends seem to have a completely different opinion of it than me and thought it was cool...oh well minor complaint and only one of two I had.Next up was "Moth Into Flame". As you can see the early part of the setlist is heavily stacked with new tunes, four out of the first seven songs at this point, but overall the audience stays right there with them through this and next up comes another mystery slot in the setlist. Now on Sunday we got "Wherever I May Roam" in this slot (one of five songs from the Black album on that night), but tonight we got our first (and not last) taste of the "And Justice For All" album with "Harvester of Sorrow". The crowd of course approved!Now the big surprise and my other complaint from the Sunday show. We're up to the ninth song of the set and on Sunday we got "Halo on Fire" in this slot. That was the only time on Sunday I saw the crowd participation wane. For a band with so many classics, five of the first nine songs to be new ones was just too much and there was a pretty decent size mass exodus to the bathrooms and/or beer lines during this on Mother's Day. Tonight would be very different.When those first notes of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" rang out, anyone who was sitting jumped to their feet. Hands down "Master of Puppets" is my favorite Metallica album and this was a fantastic surprise as I didn't expect this to even be another mystery slot in the setlist as "Halo on Fire" was played in this spot on every other show of the tour so far. It was awesome.Here's the video I took of it:

Now we reach a turning point in the set. All the new songs, as good and well received as they are, are out of the way and we're going into the home stretch to hear some classics, but first there is a Guitar/Bass jam with Kirk and Robert which leads into Robert's bass solo which on this tour is basically a cover of Cliff Burton's "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" and at this point in the set we always get to hear a mystery song off "Kill 'Em All". On Sunday we got "Whiplash" which was awesome as "Anesthesia" is the natural lead-in...tonight I was hoping for either "The Four Horsemen" or "Phantom Lord" and my prayers were answered when we got "The Four Horsemen". Man I was loving these mystery slots tonight!The last five songs before the encore have been standard starting with an ultra heavy version of "Sad But True" followed by an epic performance of "One"The title track of my aforementioned favorite Metallica album "Master of Puppets" was next and was another highlight in a show filled with quite a few of them."Fade to Black" was next and then the main set ended with a huge sing along of "Seek and Destroy" with James talking to the crowd quite a bit before hand and it was one of the most heartfelt talks I've ever seen James have with a crowd (I've seen Metallica 14 or 15 times). He joked around and then pointed out an 11 year old at his first Metallica concert and told him how he had cool parents. He asked the crowd how many of them were attending their first Metallica concert by show of hands and I was shocked to see almost half the crowd because tickets for this show were much harder to get and pricier than the stadium shows, but then again, having not seen the band before doesn't mean you're not hardcore, some of us are just old bastards with years of opportunity! When James saw all the hands he jokingly said "What took you all so long...we've been around 36 years!" Just a great attitude and you could see he was loving the up close interaction.There was a quick encore break and the last mystery slot of the night would be the first song of the encore. In NJ we got "Fight Fire With Fire" but here we got one that was totally unexpected, the opening track off "And Justice For All" - a brutal "Blackened"!Here's the video I took:

The encore set closes out with more or less Metallica's biggest two hits starting with "Nothing Else Matters" and of course ending with "Enter Sandman"I'm glad I got to see both shows and experience the spectacle of the stadium show and the intimacy of the arena show (which definitely sounds like an oxymoron). I thought there was a better balance of songs at the show last night. Both sets were 18 songs, but on Sunday the breakdown was 5 new ones, 5 Black Album, 3 Ride, 2 Kill, 1 Justice, 1 Master, 1 Reload. Last night it was 4 new, 4 black, 3 Ride, 3 Justice, 2 Kill and 2 Master.Metallica are one of those bands at this point you're always going to leave going "Man I wish they played..." because they just have so many albums, but I got to hear 23 different songs across the two shows, so I can't complain. (Okay...one complaint...how is "Creeping Death" not a standard...the "Die! Die! Die!" chant is always such an awesome live experience)So hopefully in the winter Metallica will bring this setup back around to the area arenas and I'll get to do it a few more times. If you're a fan, I'd suggest you check it out too, the band is on fire on this tour.If you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!